Online food shopping under COVID-19 – a technology acceptance model to evaluate consumption motives and barriers

Abstract

Since the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) a global pandemic, online food retailing has experienced tremendous growth. Initial forecasts expected global year-over-year growth rates of approximately 33% in 2020. The aim of this research is (1) to identify the relevant consumption motives and consumption barriers of Austrian online grocery trade using the technology acceptance model and (2) to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the driving factors. The results of the empirical analysis showed that perceived usefulness has the greatest influence on acceptance behavior in online grocery retailing. Perceived ease of use of online stores also contributes to acceptance behavior. The higher the perceived shopping pleasure and visibility of grocery online retailers, the higher the perceived benefits and ease of use. Regarding barriers, the lack of possibility for consumers to sensory check the quality of food before purchase turned out to be a weak-significant barrier that reduces the perceived usefulness. In contrast to other studies, the time facets of delivery and ordering were significantly found to not be a barrier in this research. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been shown to purchase groceries online. Although a large portion of the sample believes that grocery shopping online is a way to reduce or protect against the risk of infection, neither health aspects nor the situational factor used significantly affect acceptance in this research. In contrast, aspects of COVID-19 have a moderating effect on the purchase intention and purchase behavior. People who perceive grocery online retailing as helpful in protecting themselves from COVID-19 infection perceive a significantly higher benefit and have